We need your help to save Cally Gel

by Abby barton in Manchester, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom

We did it
On 12th September 2024 we successfully raised £1,750 with 21 supporters in 42 days

We need your help to keep our Gel polish brand we have worked so hard for going and stay alive to continue to service our community

by Abby barton in Manchester, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom

Hello everyone im Abby proud owner of Cally Gel which named after my firstborn child Cally. 

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Cally gel website 

We are looking to raise funds to keep our beloved brand going after a roller coaster 3 years in business which unfortunately has become under financial distress due to a freak accident that happened to me in November 2023 due to a firework exploding in my face which lead to me having several surgeries up until current date so save my eye as it was detached in the accident. For those who know the brand and are loyal customers you will already understand that we have been somewhat struggling to keep things moving with all the chaos that came after that day, but for those that do not know us i would like to share more on how we started to where we are now so you can get a better understanding of why we are here and why we have come to the decision we need some help and support to keep our dream alive.

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TESTIMONIALS

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WHO ARE WE?

In 2021 after being in the nail industry for 15 years as a nail technician and educator i wanted to finally bring my lifelong dream into a reality and create a gel polish brand which was a luxury affordable formula that would be available to all such as nail professionals and nail and beauty enthusiasts whilst ensuring we are vegan & cruelty-free and approved. In our first 12 months we launched our first 28 products and was amazed of the feedback we received and began to look at more product development and advance on the success we had. we marketed ourselves on Instagram Facebook and most importantly tik tok lives where we was able to communicate directly with our community of customers of there feedback helped us put the right products and shades they wanted next into production and before we knew it we had 140 plus products available to purchase as a result of our beloved cally gel customers and we have them all to thank for that.

We are a family-owned business that always lead with the intention of putting our customers first and delivering on quality and education of how to apply the products and give advice which I personally think allowed us to cut through the noise of the big brands and we were quickly getting attention from nail professionals and some of the big wholesalers in the UK that is until our wider vision was derailed in November of 2023.

WHAT WENT WRONG?

Its funny how life throws you curve balls and sometimes as I have come to realise they can be the most testing periods of your life. 2024 was to present me with one of the most happiest times of my life followed by the most traumatic. On 31st of July 2024 I gave birth to my second child Jaxon as a family the joy we felt was unimaginable as most parents would explain if they have ever given birth but little did I know round the corner I would experience something I never saw coming and could not have prepared for. 

On the 6th of November, I was invited round a member of families house with the family and the kids to have some food and enjoy some fireworks in the back garden. the night was going well and we were all enjoying ourselves. A firework was lit and started to project shots all over the garden and the situation went into pandemonium I myself was in the living room and a projectile flew straight through the window into my face. I was rushed to the hospital and booked into emergency surgery where they uncovered that the firework had detached my retina and the was a possibility I could lose my eye sight. All I could think is I'm so thankful none of the kids were hurt but also knew at this point my life is going to change and I have no power to do anything about it. Here is a video on what happened that night.

In the last 9 months I had 3 complex surgery to save my eye and fortunately for me the doctors at the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital were able to save my vision as much as they could it will never be the same as I will always have a blockage which they could not do anything about but I'm so thankful for all there time and effort as it could have been a lot worse.

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As a result of the accident I was unable to work and slowly but surely the business suffered as my time was being spent raising my second child and recovery was key I tried my hardest to keep doing Tik Tok lives and updated our customers as much as we could but our stock levels dropped and we missed crucial times in the year to restock on certain best selling shades and as it takes 3 months to manufacture we fell behind and are only relying on existing stock which I would like to say thankyou for all our loyal customers for continuing to shop with us and believe in the brand. there have been many times where we thought about closing this but there is to much meaning behind the brand on why we started and we know a lot of our customers would be upset if we chose to do that. so here we are asking for our fellow community for some help and support to keep going and get back on track.  

HOW YOU CAN HELP AND WHAT WE WILL DO WITH THE FUNDS RAISED?

Before the accident happened we were in the process of migrating all our products into totally Hema-Free which we felt the industry was calling for and we started to phase out the old formula to go into 2024 total Hema-Free so once again we were shifting the boundary in the space and allowing people who are averse to having reactions to gel polish formula a safe product to use. We passed out around 30 shades until that happened and then the financial gap grew wider as I struggled with raising Jaxon and trying to work in between to make ends meet so naturally we had to park that idea up only relying on the income of the existing stock wasn't enough to put the full product line into production for it to be completely Hema-Free. We know our customers have been crying out for restock of the bestselling such as harmony builder gel and all our nail prep tools there are to may to mention so to simplify how we will use the funds we plan to fully restock all the best sellers and put into production more nude shades and builder gel products which have been requested alongside other new ideas we have such as glitters and prep tools. 

Once we have the funds we will we go into production we will start selling again on our Tik Tok lives rather than put money into marketing as this has been our best sales channel and we can communicate with our customers and get live feedback. This will give us a second chance to serve our customers and we look at it as a reset to go bigger better and more successful than we have ever been. 

OUR VISION

The vision now is bigger than before with your help we can continue to serve our loyal and new customers and grow our product lines. We have been approached by a big wholesaler who will only bring more attention to the brand and put the spotlight on why we love what we do.

YOUR REWARD FOR HELPING 

We have always had a strong sense of gratitude for everybody who has come on our journey and if you are able to help would like to reward you for it. It hasn't been an easy decision to look at crowdfunding as you might say we don't like asking for help but have to to the realisation if we don't do anything about it we will lose what we have worked so hard for and we believe it's worth saving. 

For everyone that donates we would like to offer the following.

  • Lifetime 30% off all products at Cally Gel 
  • Listed on our VIP newsletter to get early access to all new product launches 
  • Free ticket to Cally gel summer party in 2025 (Date TBC)
  • Access to our affiliate platform where you get paid a commission for posting content on our products 

I would like to end on saying thank you for everyone who has supported us so far and has continued to send us love in the last 9 months we know that times are hard for everyone so don't expect you to donate but if you can share and spread our message that would be enough and hopefully we can continue to fulfill our dreams.

Love Abby x


Rewards

This project offers rewards in return for your donation. Please select a reward below.

£50 or more

Lifetime 30% discount On all products at Cally Gel

At Cally Gel our success was built on the customers who believed in from the start so without you guys there would be no brand! If you are able to help with a donation we would like to reward you guys with a lifetime discount of 30% off everything on all products

£20 or more

First customers to have access to new products

We will add all our crowd funders to our VIP email database which will give them access to all our new product launches before anyone else.

£20 or more

Ticket to the Cally gel Summer Party

In 2025 we plan to host a summer party at our premises where we ill showcase all our new products and also carry out demonstrations with live music and good bags and much more on the day

£20 or more

Earn commission with Cally gel

You will listed on our affiliate platform where you will be rewarded for posting content on our products whether it be in free gifts or money

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